James Cameron’s Avatar is celebrating its 10th anniversary, and it’s a good time to look at the impact it had in cinema. Written, directed, and produced by James Cameron, Avatar is his most ambitious film to date, and one that had been in development for years (since 1994, to be exact). Although it was supposed to begin production in mid-1997, after Cameron completed Titanic, the project was put on hold as the necessary technology for his vision of the film wasn’t available yet.

Cameron retook the project in 2006 and began working in the film now known as Avatar. The story centers around Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), a disabled former Marine who becomes part of the Avatar Program, replacing his deceased twin. Sully, along with others, are sent on a mission to Pandora, a habitable moon in the Alpha Centauri star system, inhabited by a humanoid species called Na’vi. As Pandora’s atmosphere is poisonous to humans, the only way Sully and company can access it is through Na’vi-human hybrids called “avatars”, which are operated by genetically matched humans.

Avatar was a big success, breaking box office records and holding the #1 spot as the highest-grossing film of all time until Avengers: Endgame came out. But Avatar’s legacy goes beyond box office numbers, as it opened a lot of doors for fantasy and sci-fi films thanks to the technology it brought and more.

How Avatar Changed Movies

Cameron had a very specific vision for Avatar, which is why he waited for so long to finally get it done. He worked on new motion capture animation technologies that would allow him to better capture the facial expressions of the actors so the animators could later use them. Other technologies developed for Avatar were a new system for lighting massive areas (like Pandora’s jungle), a new texturing and paint software system, and new ways to make many of the CGI elements look as realistic as possible. In addition to that, Avatar made the 3D format popular (and relevant) again, with a lot of films getting 3D releases ever since. It was built to be a one-of-a-kind theatrical experience and it definitely succeeded on that, and also made it possible for other films to use these new technologies to their advantage. Simply put, without Avatar’s technical advancements, films like Avengers: Endgame or even the Star Wars sequels wouldn’t look as they do.

Avatar’s success was such that it got a theatrical re-release in 2010, exclusively in 3D theaters and IMAX 3D and with nine minutes of extra footage, all of which was CG. Re-releases are a move that many other films have made since, and while Avatar obviously wasn’t the first to do so, it can brag about having a successful release and re-release, which added more to its box office numbers (and, once again, it was a strategy that Avengers: Endgame used to its advantage). Another particularity of Avatar which ended up becoming a sort of “strategy” in the film industry is its release date. Summer used to be the ideal time to release big films, but Avatar proved that December also works quite well. Studios keeping their biggest titles for the last month of the year is very common now, and the new wave of Star Wars films (except Solo: A Star Wars Story) is a good example of this.

While many film enthusiasts feel the world has now forgotten about Avatar, truth is that it had such an impact on so many areas that it won’t be forgotten for a long, long time – more so now that Cameron is working on Avatar 2 and 3. It remains to be seen if the sequels will bring new technologies and have an effect on the film industry as big as the first film.

Next: Every Upcoming Avatar Movie (2021-2027)

  • Avatar 2 Release Date: 2022-12-16 Avatar 3 Release Date: 2024-12-20 Avatar 4 Release Date: 2026-12-18 Avatar 5 Release Date: 2028-12-22